I'm fairly new to the whole photography scene , had a dslr for almost 2 years had a fairly decent lens for about 8 months , I shoot mostly motorcycles. Until now all I have done by way of PP is a crop and maybe some adjustment on exposure if the photo looks too light/dark and some sharpening , I generally just use the software that came with the camera for this although I have CS5 I have no idea how or what to use it for. My question is am I doing enough or indeed the right things what else should/could I be doing to improve the look of my images ???
If you buy a motorbike, say a Honda, and many years later, one of the parts got worn out from wear and tear, and your motorbike's manual says "You have to buy Honda part number XXXX" to replace the part, do you really have to buy Honda parts? Doubtful, chances are like most car drivers, I bet there's a fair chance that you would buy Brand-X parts instead of having to buy manufacturer's own parts.
So you can use CS5 instead of having to use the supplied software that came with your camera, just because the camera supplied the software, there's nothing to say you must use the camera manufactuer's own supplied software, there's nothing to stop you opt for another company's software in place of the camera's supplied software. You can use CS5 like you've used your camera's supplied software.
I don't have CS5 or similar, I would be interested in buying the software, until then, I actually have Corel
DRAW 10 which includes Corel PHOTO-PAINT, and instead of using the supplied Nikon software that came with my Nikon camera, instead of using the supplied Olympus software that came with my Olympus camera, I prefer to import my photos into Corel software. I figure chances are CS5 could offer you more than what your camera's supplied software have.
So you could use your CS5 as you would with your camera's supplied software (ie: as you've been doing, like crop, adjustments, sharpening) but with CS5, you could do far more, like create posters, calendars, so something magical with your photos, like turning one of your images into an oil painting. (Assuming CS5 could do simliar to my Corel PHOTO-PAINT?)
Why don't you keep your originals somewhere safe in one folder and copy them to a different folder, then you can just open the copies in CS5 and mess about, play with different options, see what you can do. It's not like you're going to accidentally launch some nukes, just feel free to try out your CS5 and see what it could do for you.
It is no different from picking up a pen and write some lines on paper then ask yourself "Am I doing enough? What else should/could I be doing?" The only limit is your imagination. You could just use CS5 instead of your camera manufacturer's supplied software and you could just do the same crop, adjustment, etc., but with CS5 you could do more.
Also, as far as I can tell CS5 is popular, therefore popular enough to have how-to books written about it. I'm sure there could be
CS5 For Dummies, as well as any other books in the bookshops, as well as magazines. You could get some ideas from those.
